Monthly Archives for July 2010

Do you fear technology or are simply content with things that need no further explanation? Don’t worry you are not alone as there are a lot of technophobes amongst us. Newer technology is being phased in all the things we see or do – including golf equipment. Some technologies are non-visual, such as the case with nano-composites. What the heck are those anyway? Then there are some technologies that are visible such as removable weighted screws. Just imagine at all the golfers who paid extra for a screw-weighted driver only they never used the wrench to change the weights from the factory setting to see how the ball flight may change.

The latest form of technology in golf equipment is the emergence of interchangeable driver adapters which have the ability to change the lie

and face angle. One prime example is Hireko’s patent pending Dynacraft Prophet ICT driver and fairway woods. Face it, you buy a brand new driver and you don’t quite hit the ball straight, what do you do? You end up creating a new swing to make the ball go where you want it to go, which spills into your other clubs. Good golfers know that is the kiss of death toward lowering your score. Or worse yet, what will happen when your swing changes slightly? Your existing driver becomes obsolete.

Theses interchangeable adapters address these problems by utilizing your existing head and being able to make simple modifications to the club rather than to your swing. With a quick twist of a wrench, you can reposition these adapters one or two turns and having you hit the ball where you want to go. And this is something you can do yourself very easily.

If you can remove a screw in a switch wall plate, then believe it or not, you can change the lie or face angle of our Dynacraft Prophet ICT series clubhead. You control any one of the eight different configurations that is possible with each head.

Here is how it works. If you routinely push the ball in the factory setting (Position 1), then you can change the face angle to position 8 or 6. If you slice the ball, move the ICT adapter to position 7. If you pull the ball, move the adapter to position 2 or 4, while moving the adapter to position 3 will help correct for a hook. Lastly, you are hitting the ball straight, but the ball impacts the face toward the toe you can move the adapter to position 5 to hit in the center of the face. It’s that simple!

To change the adapter position, here are a few tips. First, I found it is best to place the butt or grip on the ground for leverage and hold onto the head with one hand. Next, take the wrench (included with each club) and insert it into the screw head. Press down and rotate counter-clockwise to loosen the screw. Then reposition the adapter (using the white alignment dot) into the proper position.

The next step is to tighten the screw. Don’t be scared to use some force. With the butt end of the club on the ground, press down and rotate the wrench clockwise to tighten the screw. Lastly, grab the head in one hand and the shaft in the other and give it a good twist to check you got the screw tightened. After that you are good to go to hit balls on the range or out on the course.

Don’t settle for so-so when you get a new club that allows you to hit the ball in the direction you want it to go. For you technophobes the Dynacraft Prophet ICT adapter system is new technology not to fear as it is a simple and yet an effective investment for your golf game. Remember this technology is available in the fairway wood too.

OK, I’ll admit I am still lingering from a little jet lag from my world wind tour as I and a couple of my fellow coworkers just got back from the heart of manufacturing – Southern China. For golfers, they need to understand this is the Mecca as the vast majority of all golf clubs components, especially clubheads, golf bags and golf accessories are produced in this region of the world. With a population of 1.3 billion there is no lack of workers who are willing to work for a scant wage compared to the rest of the world demanding cheap, but technologically advanced equipment. However, the part about the low wages is soon changing quickly which may effect how much you will pay for clubs and so forth in the future.

There were a number of reasons for the visit. I got a firsthand look and some of the investments made by the foundry in the last year to help increase efficiencies from the robotic CNC plasma welding machines to the vacuum drying units to provide better and more consistent club heads. According to the old adage, pictures are worth a thousand words, but in this case there are certain proprietary methods and machinery to fabricate club heads I promised I would not show. Sorry to be a tease, but a promise is a promise I intend to keep.

Another reason to go was to look at the new 2011 models either in development or in the manufacturing process. The foundry happened to be shooting waxes of our upcoming Acer XDS React iron slated to come out

Wax mold of Acer XDS React iron

later this summer. Plus I got to inspect an aluminum master of a new Acer iron that we just recently signed off on the CAD modeling and the rapid prototype.

One night I was there until 10 PM with the owner of the foundry along with the head engineer of the forging facility examining some of the products we were working on plus discussing some ideas I had for a new way to produce a golf club. Technology occurs when you can challenge the engineers to do things that have never been done before become a reality. These are the building block of clubs that you might see in 2012, even
though you have not even seen the 2011 models yet. This shows you the planning it takes to create new models. Plus the expression is priceless no matter what language one speaks. You hear the voice changes and the eyes get bigger once they understand what I am explaining and you don’t need an interpreter for that.

One thing I wanted to mention was the small little things like all the quality control steps along the way. It didn’t matter if the head was ours, a notable name brand manufacturer or a club head you might see in a boxed set; this foundry inspected each and every head for weight, loft, lie, face angle, face flatness, bulge and roll, dimensional tolerances amongst other parameters. The same QC checks went for the steel and graphite shafts that were produced at the foundry too. Not just spot checking a few shafts along the way, but 100% inspection, including destruct testing in a series of bending in four different points along the length of the shaft. In another building, the mechanical robot plus the air cannon were continuously being utilized to test for durability. All these things go unnoticed by most people as they assume low cost products (relatively speaking) simply don’t go through these rigors. That is simply not the case with our products.

We also got an opportunity to visit and tour some new suppliers for bags, accessories and grips. With so many suppliers in close proximity it is good to explore the possibilities of what they may offer that current suppliers don’t.

After it was all said and done, I spent 30+ hours straight in airplanes, a ferry, train, bus and eventually a car before arriving home. Plus I experienced the “mystery meat” on the airplane that did not necessarily agree with my tummy. Pork my phatoey! But those things will not be a deterrent for returning next year to see what the fruits of our labor spawned from this trip.

There are many instances where you might want to save a graphite shaft intact. First of all, it is much easier when re-shafting a driver that the customer broke or simply did not like. One method to remove a graphite shaft is to remove the ferrule, cut the shaft off at the hosel and drill the remaining part out of the hosel. However, on modern drivers, fairways and hybrids which are nearly all hollow inside, could potentially could push material into the cavity of the head and cause it to rattle. From that standpoint alone, it is worth removing the entire shaft intact.

A more obvious reason is monetarily. Graphite shafts can be quite expensive; some costing several hundred dollars each (at least from a retail price, not necessarily a production cost). Many golfers will go out and purchase a new driver only to find out they don’t particularly like the stock shaft that came with the driver or they will read on the internet or in a golf magazine that a new graphite shaft by the XYZ-company came out and was the winning shaft on the PGA Tour that week. Whatever reason, golfers are never happy with their equipment and are always experimenting in quest for greater distance and accuracy.

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Golfers are now getting accustomed to walking into a club repair shop and wanting to pull the stock shaft out and put in the popular shaft of the week to try, knowing full well if the new shaft did not work, that the old shaft could go back in. Well, in theory that is correct, but let me explain a few things first.

Rule #1 – Never promise that a shaft can be saved

What is the reasoning for this statement? First is how a shaft it manufactured. A graphite shaft is made from many layers of graphite pre-preg or long continuous strands of carbon fiber wrapped around a forming mandrel. To hold the layers or strands together, an epoxy resin is used. This same epoxy resin is not much different from the epoxy that is used to hold the head onto the shaft. In order to remove the head from the shaft, a heat source needs to be applied. That same heat can transfer or permeate into the shaft and potentially break down the epoxy matrix holding the shaft layers together.

Secondly, chances are you weren’t the person who put the club together. The shaft may have been previously installed by another clubmaker or an individual who did not put the club together with the proper supplies. Urban legend or not, dumping gunpowder down a graphite shaft and securing it somehow is not a good method for increasing swingweight. But more commonly is the type of epoxy that was used to secure the head. Golf club manufacturers and component supply companies use only a handful of different epoxies because they work well to hold the head onto the shaft, but also this allows the club to be removed without excessive or a long duration of heat. Believe me; removing a club that had been affixed with JB Weld is not an option, especially a graphite shaft that you want to remove intact.

Continuously reusing graphite shafts is not a good habit either. Each time the shaft is exposed to a heat source, there has to be some effect to the shaft. We are not talking about leaving the club in your truck of your car on a blacktop surface in Phoenix Arizona during a hot, steamy summer day, rather from the trying to remove the shaft with high heat. Buying shaft pull-outs is a risky proposition as you cannot verify how safely it was pulled or how many times the shaft was exposed to heat previously. Any club you put together or repair, ultimately you are liable for.

Rule #2 – The shaft needs pulled off straight

Most importantly, when removing a clubhead from a graphite shaft it is imperative that the clubhead be removed by pulling it straight off of the shaft. Twisting and pulling on the clubhead to remove it from the shaft (like you would on a steel shaft) will result into a shaft tip failure. A graphite shaft puller is an absolute must for this job. Shaft pullers can range anywhere from around $20 for a devise that looks like a modified pry bar (you still need a vise and shaft clamp) to several hundred dollars for a hydraulic model. Regardless, invest in a good shaft puller if you are repairing clubs in any sort of volume. Remember how much shafts cost again. Potentially saving just one that can be reused in another club that you can the charge full retail price will more than pay for itself!

Not that we established why we need a shaft puller and the potential pitfalls from a warranty / customer service stand point, now we need to look at a few other things before getting started.

Here is a little trick, try to stick a magnet to the hosel of the head. If it sticks it will take less time to remove the shaft than if it doesn’t stick. Why? A magnet will stick to both carbon and stainless steel, where it won’t on titanium or aluminum. A magnet will also not stick to a “wooden” or head made wholly of carbon graphite / epoxy either. However, those two materials are rarely seen in the market that we will not talk about them in this article. If you heat a stainless steel hosel, it remains hot in the area that it is heated. Where as titanium and aluminum are very good conductors of heat and the heat will transfer to the other parts of the head. Thus it takes a longer duration of heat to break the epoxy bond loose. On a titanium head, it may or may not say titanium on it, but have numbers like 6/4, SP700, DAT51, etc. Heads made from aluminum, will not have aluminum engraved on them, rather stamped Ti Matrix or Ti Alloy. Aluminum heads are normally found in inexpensive boxed sets, equipped with very cheap shafts and are normally the hardest to work on.

Rule #4 – Before you heat, take a peek

Before grabbing the propane tank, take of peek of the finish because this will tell you what type of heat source to use. If the hosel is a satin or high polish finish, you should have no problem using a propane (or butane) torch or heat gun. However, if the hosel is painted or tumbled with a clear urethane coating, then caution should be made to protect the head as best as possible from discoloration.

Take a peek at the top of the crown as well. If it has a carbon crown, then you have to worry that the heat will transfer past the hosel and possibly damage the carbon shell. If this is the case, go to you local welding supply center and get a bottle of a product called Cool Gel. This is very cool stuff! Just spray it on the carbon surface only and it will protect it from any wayward heat like an accidental pass with the torch. When you are done, you can just wipe the head with a wet paper towel or rag to remove the gel.

I get several questions on what is the better heat source; propane or a heat gun. Both do a good job, but in my opinion one is not better than the other. The torch may discolor the head if you keep the heat in one place too long. A heat gun will take about three times as long to produce the same amount of heat to break the epoxy bond. During that time you still can discolor the head. On light colored heads (champagne, baby blue and light coppers) or the clear urethane coated heads (like the original Callaway Big Bertha titanium) I will avoid the propane torch like the plague. But before grabbing a heat gun, there is an alternative.

During the time I taught at the Dynacraft Clubmaking Institute, Forest Sands (a fine gentleman who volunteered his time to help teach each group of students) came up with a rather simple solution to avoid discoloring the heads. Getting the idea from going to the ophthalmologist (fancy name for eye doctor) who submerged the lens of his glasses in hot sand to make adjustments, Forest poured ordinary play sand (that you would use in a child’s sand box) into a deep fryer he had lying around. The hosel area of the clubhead could be submerged into the heated sand at 300° and left there for 20 to 30 minutes while you were doing other tasks. (Tip: keep a candy thermometer in the sand if it doesn’t have a heat regulator) The only concern was to make sure the graphite shaft didn’t touch the side of the deep fryer. For those that are health conscious, there is not better use for the deep fryer!

Each puller is slightly different so follow the directions that came with it. After a while you will get the hang of it and find the most efficient method for yourself. I personally like having the club out of the puller for now as I am able to spin the hosel in the propane flame or in the direction of the heat from the heat gun. I can see better as the work up close and at hand, plus I am usually less likely to discolor the head when it is not stationary. However, if you do heat the club with it in the shaft puller, make sure to heat the rear of the hosel. If you do discolor the head, at least it will be on the back side that it least likely to be seen by the golfer when the club is at address.

You are now ready to apply heat to the head for the purpose of removing the head from the shaft. It is best to remove the shaft as soon as the epoxy breaks loose. By doing so, this will limit the possibility of heat penetrating into the shaft and causing it to break down.

Another tip, if you are heating the club when it is not in the puller, I would suggest leaving the ferrule on shaft. If the heat source accidentally moves away from the hosel and onto the shaft, the ferrule could protect the shaft from the flame. Plus it is easier to cut the ferrule off if it is warmed up.

Use a torch as the method of heating

Apply heat to the backside of the hosel or rotate the hosel in the flame for only a period of 15-20 seconds. If this is a stainless or carbon steel head, this short of duration can break the bond loose. If the clubhead does not come off at this point, reheat for a period of 10 seconds. Remember, you can always reheat the hosel, but you can’t remove heat if you heat the club too long. Continue this method of heating for 10 second intervals until the shaft puller has forced the clubhead from the shaft. Again, be patient. Sometimes these steps will have to be repeated as many as 3 or 4 times (or more) before successfully removing the graphite shaft from the clubhead, especially for titanium and aluminum clubheads. The more pressure that the shaft puller applies the less heat it takes to remove the shaft from the clubhead.

Use a heat as the method of heating

If you use a heat gun instead of a torch, then the duration of heat will be longer. Again, apply heat to the backside of the hosel or rotate the hosel in the flame for only a period of 45-60 seconds. If this is a stainless or carbon steel head, this short of duration can break the bond loose. If the clubhead does not come off at this point, reheat for a period of 25-30 seconds. Remember, you can always reheat the hosel, but you can’t remove heat if you heat the club too long. Continue this method of heating for 25 second intervals until the shaft puller has forced the clubhead from the shaft. Again, be patient. Sometimes these steps will have to be repeated as many as 3 or 4 times (or more) before successfully removing the graphite shaft from the clubhead, especially for titanium and aluminum clubheads. The more pressure that the shaft puller applies the less heat it takes to remove the shaft from the clubhead.

Use a sand pot as the method of heating

The sand pot provides the luxury of time. As stated before, you can leave the club in 20 to 30 minutes at 300°. I once had an expensive Japanese driver that belonged to a real finicky customer. Knowing full well I didn’t want to discolor the head, I decided to use the sand pot method. Sometimes you get distracted with a phone call or two and next thing you know that 20 or 30 minutes turned into 3 hours! After realizing the club was still being heated, I rushed over to the deep fryer expecting to find a club devoid of any finish. To my amazement, the paint and urethane were not harmed in any way. But it was a good lesson learned and luckily for me I didn’t have to reach into my wallet to replace it. The other part of using the sand method is the portion of the shaft that was in the hosel was relatively cool that you could safely touch it with your fingers right after if was removed, even though the head had to be handled with thermal gloves.

Rule #6 -Check the shaft tip

Once you are able to extract the shaft from the head, immediately put the shaft tip on the ground and push down on the butt end to deflect the shaft. If the tip crushes or looks like one of those exploding cigars, then you applied too much heat and the shaft is ruined and become a tomato stake. However, if the shaft tip stays intact, take a closer inspection of the tip section to see if you notice any longitudinal cracks or delaminating, or basically anything that you think would be considered damage. If not, there is a good chance you could reuse the shaft into another head or the same head later on.

At this time, clean to tip of any old epoxy as it is easier to remove when it is warm rather when it cools off. Another thing to do is remove any lead / brass tip pin that may be present for swingweighting in the tip of the shaft. Usually a pair of pliers will suffice. You may also have to remove any epoxy core that is inside the tip of the shaft as the hole needs to be clear to allow the shaft to seat the next time. A long 1/8” drill bit works well for this purpose, although I have found shafts that had as much as 20” of junk inside the shaft, but I will leave that for another article.

Successfully removing graphite shafts is not that hard of a skill to learn. All you need is a good shaft puller, patience, the proper heat source for the type of material as well as the club head’s finish and of course good common sense. You may not be able to save all of them successfully, but following these tips will put you on the path to proficiency.

Hireko has one, if not the most extensive lines of golf hybrids available by anyone in the golf industry. At first it may seem to like an overwhelming task of selecting the right one, but after we break down each model you should be able to confidently select the best model for your game.

Without a doubt, hybrids have made the game a little less daunting and virtually every single golfer regardless of their skill level has at least one hybrid in their bag to replace hard-to-hit or seldom used longer irons to even a full set of hybrids to replace all the irons and even wedges too. So let’s first start there.

Power Play Select 5000 (Easy alignment and added height)
It is our perennial best-seller. These are compact and narrow and have a very low center of gravity which makes the ball easy to get airborne. The Power Play Select 5000 has a consistent appearance from the #1 all the way down to the wedges in this set. Their set up is unique. While the head shape in semi-wood like, the longer hosel and reduced face progression than typical hybrids provide almost as a greatly reduced or non-offset iron appearance making it easy to align the ball toward the target. The low center of gravity not only helps to get the ball airborne, but provide a solid feel for golfers who tend to make contact low on the clubface.

Acer XDS Wide Sole Hybrid Custom Assembled $39.95

Acer XDS Wide Sole (Accuracy and height)
This set is the complete opposite of the Select 5000 as it takes on a progressive shape designed for different levels of forgiveness throughout the set. The long, low lofted hybrids are extra large and extra forgiving. If you are comfortable with the size and appearance of a fairway wood, but struggle with the longer club lengths, then the Acer XDS Wide Soles were made specifically for you.

As you move into the mid and higher lofted clubs, the size becomes smaller and smaller as less help is needed. The weak (higher) lofts are also designed to benefit those you need some extra height on their shots. If you have a tendency to pull or even shank your irons or conventional hybrids, the face forward design will put you back on the straight and narrow. If your tendency is more of a slice or push, you might look for another option.

Dynacraft Avatar XMOI Hybrids Custom Assembled $39.95

Dynacraft Avatar XMOI (Resist the right side)
That other option is the Dynacraft Avatar XMOI. While I categorized these as an iron in the previous installment of breaking down the Hireko lineup, they still fall in the realm of a hybrid set by taking the best of both worlds. These have an iron-like profile and appearance, but are hollow bodied to provide increased forgiveness on off-center shots. If you tend to push, face or even slice an iron, this may be the set you need. The offset, coupled with the weight distribution of the head should help you start seeing you ball go toward your intended target rather than veering off to the right.

Power Play System Q Hybrid Custom Assembled $44.95

Power Play System Q (Distance)
Unlike all our other hybrids that are designed to be the same weight and length as an iron to create predictable distance as the iron they are replacing, the Power Play System Q’s are based on the trend of the major manufacturers. These heads are lighter, meaning they are longer length than the same numbered iron. What this does is give the golfer a little added leverage and swing speed if more distance is the goal, especially for golfers who are generally fairly straight to begin with.

These are very neutral weighted, even by switching weights will not make much difference in creating a draw or fade. The screw weighting allows for versatility in swingweighting for different shaft and length options.

iBella Obsession Hybrid Custom Assembled $48.35

iBella Obsession Hybrid (For the petite lady golfer)
Diversity is what you should see from your supplier and the iBella Obsession hybrid is no better example. We are not always concerned about following trends amongst major manufacturers, but also providing products where there is a large niche. Aside for the decorative rhinestone adorning these hybrids, what make these different is the soles are extra heavy. This serves two purposes. The first is more weight lower means the ball will go higher and the shots will feel solid.

The second reason is that more weight allows one to use a shorter club and get the right amount of balance or weight. These are considered “graphite weighted”. Women will typically use graphite shafts in their hybrids and graphite shafted hybrids typically need slightly longer lengths to get the right balance and feel. But what happens if you are a petite or shorter lady? The last thing you need is a club that is too long and hard to hit the ball. The solution is the slightly heavier heads so you can enjoy the length you need and in return make solid shots instead of hitting the club behind the ball. Now that is smart thinking!

Long iron replacements
Most golfers consider hybrids to be utility clubs. That is they purchase one or two clubs that don’t necessarily match the rest of their set to fill a void in their bag. These are often treated as specialty clubs like the driver wedges and putter. These are usually engraved with the numbers #2 – 5 and bridge the distance gaps between the range of a 5-wood to a 5-iron.

The Acer XK Hybrid is positioned in the middle of our line. They have the right balance of forgiveness without being excessively draw-biased. They aren’t too big, too small, and too deep or too shallow making them the choice when you are really not sure what you really need yet. While it might sound like this might be our most “vanilla” offering, it does offer a lot of technology you cannot see. The variable crown thickness pulls needless weight from the crown and moves it to the sole to assist creating additional trajectory from the fairway or rough. Plus the variable face thickness provide and impressive sound and feel. RH and LH options available

The maraging face which is harder, thinner and stronger than stainless steel provides a launching pad for the ball to fly off of. If you are looking for a distance advantage over a long iron but without resorting to making the club length longer and less likely to make solid contact, the Caiman is the choice. However, if your tendency to push, fade or slice the ball on a regular basis, then the next hybrid would be a better option. The Caiman would fall somewhere between the Acer XK and the Dynacraft Prophet in terms of flight control. RH and LH options available

Power Play Q2 (Easy alignment and no more fades)
The square or rectangular appearance frames the ball very well at address making this one of the easiest clubs to align. There is virtually no offset which positions it more toward the Power Play Select 5000 in terms of set up, but is much deeper faced so it doesn’t launch the ball too high. The center of gravity is positioned so that it is draw biased to make the ball less likely to fade, push or slice. RH and LH options available

This hybrid was designed specifically for the better playing in mind. That is one who needs the forgiveness of the hybrid, but the hosel configuration helps to eliminate the pulling or even hooking the ball. This has many of the same technological features such as the variable crown and face thickness to produce an awesome sound and feel at impact. RH only

Tour Gear (Economy)
For the budget minded or beginning golfer, the Tour Gear is a very viable choice as a long iron replacement. The longer face area and broader triangular shapes should instill a lot of confidence, while the shallow face and generous should propel the ball high for the budding player. RH only

Women’s Specific Hybrids
While any of the individual hybrids or sets of hybrids can be made into a ladies option by selecting an appropriate flex shaft, grip size and length, Hireko offers 3 ladies specific lines of hybrids. We had already spoken about the benefits of the graphite-weighted iBella Obsession hybrids which help provide the right length and weight for petite women and available as a full set or can be sold individually to mix and match conventional irons.

iBella Bellissima Hybrid Custom Assembled $45.85

The iBella Bellissima hybrid is designed to solve the number #1 problems women have – getting the ball in the air! The extra loft, coupled with the shallow profile and heavily weighted sole makes these the easiest of all our hybrids to get into the air.

The Acer XP 905 hybrids – as most golfers call them the “pink ones” are very similar to the iBella Obsession with one exception. These are not heavier so they are designed for normal length for average to above average height women. The head size and hosel configuration are all the same.

Lady XP905 Hybrid Custom Assembled $37.95

That’s the skinny on all of the hybrids Hireko currently sells. Hopefully you have a better understanding of where each hybrid fits into the puzzle rather than be puzzled.